When hydrogen is used as a fuel in motor vehicles, a hydrogen fuel depot infrastructure for refueling must also be developed. Typically, present practice is that fuel is stored in on board tanks maintained at a maximum pressure in the range of about 5000 psi for hydrogen, and higher pressures in the range of about 10,000 psi or more are likely to be utilized in the future as the use of hydrogen becomes more widespread. During driving, a static charge may build up on the vehicle chassis. When the vehicle stops, the charge is usually dissipated to ground through the vehicle's tires; however, the rate of dissipation of the charge through the vehicle tires varies depending on the resistance of the tires and the resistance of the surface on which the vehicle is parked or stopped. If, at a refueling station or depot, the vehicle static charge energy is above a minimum threshold energy level that can cause the spark ignition of hydrogen gas, then it is unsafe to refuel the vehicle through the refill conduit connecting the fuel depot gas outlet and the vehicle tank inlet. If hydrogen were to leak at the depot refill nozzle or at the vehicle receptacle, a spark may occur when the refill nozzle is connected to the vehicle receptacle, which could potentially ignite the hydrogen. A conventional solution mitigates the static discharge problem, by manually connecting a grounding cable to the vehicle before refueling to avoid the potential for a spark to occur.